Marketing Strategies

Executors and Beneficiaries will find many ways to take advantage of the service and expertise available at L.W. Benton Company’s (LWBC). Many estates require appraisals only, and some quick advice on how to proceed if you are handling an entire in family distribution. Many also require the sale of some or several assets both real estate and personal property. Please explore this site under the headings which are of interest to you at this time. If you wish to make a specific enquiry, please call or email us today at 478-744-0027 or email us at [email protected]

Busy executors that are tired of waiting the months and years it can take for vacant estate homes to sell are turning to the auction method of marketing for faster and more efficient results

When an executor is confronted with managing and maintaining a vacant and often depreciating estate home over an extended and typically unknown period of time, the traditional real estate method becomes inefficient.

In times when an estate property is not selling, typically the sole option the listing agent offers is a substantial price reduction.

It is painful to see a family home sit vacant for months, or perhaps years waiting for the right buyer to come along and make an offer on the property. It is equally painful to remember how neat and tidy the home and property once was when the grass was cut and trimmed, the weeds were pulled, flowers were in the gardens, shrubs and hedges weren’t overgrown, paint wasn’t peeling and the house wasn’t cold and musty smelling. Would you offer your principal residence for sale in a closed up and neglected state Not only does it cost the estate and its beneficiaries hundreds or perhaps thousands of dollars per month in loss on return of capital locked up in an idle asset, but there is the depreciation of the high maintenance asset to consider. Further, Utilities, taxes, insurance and maintenance costs continue to build and often a vacant home becomes less of a priority and may get neglected.

The options to maintaining an estate home are painful and simple.

Neglect it.

Do it yourself.

Oversee that it gets done properly by somebody else and be prepared to burden those extra expenditures upon the estate and its beneficiaries.

What if it takes 6, 12 or 18 months to sellWill everybody be as interested in maintaining the property then as they are todayAs time moves along, are you going to be more motivated to accept any offer and perhaps the first offer that comes alongIs this good fiscal responsibility

In an auction situation, the home only needs to be kept up for 4 or 5 weeks. During this period it is easy to stay motivated because you know for sure that the end is just around the corner. Regardless of if you do the work of maintaining the property yourself for this short period of time, or hire it done, the investment will be worthwhile. The property will show in perfect condition for the dozens, or often 100’s of people who will view it through the auction open house process. You will be at ease that the property was shown in its best condition and that the value achieved through the auction effort was the best value possible.

Estate properties are often very difficult to place a value upon. Many times they have been in the family for generations, they typically require infrastructure and cosmetic updates and there are not normally close comparable properties to the property being valued. Any appraisal on a property like this is at best, a guess. This most often is the reason an estate property sits vacant for months or perhaps years before selling. The 1st price was the wrong price. This breeds neglect toward the property as time goes by and the home begins to look tired. How sure are you that the price you choose to put on the property is the right price. If you ask for 4 evaluations and the top evaluation is 25% different than the bottom evaluation, do you pick the middle and hope that it is right Market shifts are another strong consideration when selling an estate home. The auction method of marketing employs strengths in an accelerating market as well as in a deteriorating market.

In an accelerating market, the auction method ensures that the property is not sold before it is exposed properly and fairly into the marketplace. It is often in an accelerating market that you hear of properties selling in one or two days before ever hitting the MLS system. Imagine if you had properly exposed the property and then given all interested parties an opportunity to bid against each other for the property. In a deteriorating market, auction will allow you to get out of the property quickly at today’s price. In a deteriorating market, competition in the housing market gets stiffer every day as the market shifts from a Seller’s to a Buyer’s market. Can you predict where the market is going in the next 3 to 6 months

If you’re an Executor in charge of selling real estate, before you list the estate property(s), have LWBC prepare a thorough and detailed real estate marketing plan. We’ll make the sale of your estate home an easy success, and our auction marketing system will provide you with the confidence you require to know that you’ve done the right thing!

If the estate that you are dealing with includes personal property assets in addition to real estate, like household contents, antiques, jewelry, art, vehicles, commercial equipment and other assets, please call us to learn more about LWBC’s complete estate settlement services.